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Friday, October 24, 2014

Tight People, Loose Trees at U Village

10/24/14 India ink, twig, watercolor, Canson XL 140 lb.

The University Village Starbucks was supposed to be only the meeting place for the Friday
ad hoc urban sketchers, not the sketching destination. But this morning started
out cold enough that I decided to stay and warm up – literally – with a cup of
coffee and as many sketches of people as I could do in half an hour. Inspired
by Melanie Reim’s loose yet angular
style, I was trying to loosen up, but I’m not sure I succeeded. I can usually get
loose with figures that are moving quickly, but I have a much harder time with faces. I’m going to keep working
on that.

Sufficiently warmed, I went out to the village fountain, which I had sketched several months ago when I was
doing temporary battle with an ongoing sketching nemesis – fountains and falling
water. Trying to reserve the paper’s white for running water is always the
tough part! Getting an odd reverse logic in my head, I pulled out my twigs and
India ink, somehow thinking I might be able to indicate the white water by
using dark ink for the negative spaces. A good concept poorly executed – but at
least the twig loosened up my lines.

10/24/14 Private Reserve Velvet Black ink

That done, I turned my stool 90 degrees and spotted some
maples past their prime but still blazing in the sunshine, as well as a couple
of lamp posts. Two years ago, I had sketched the same type of lamp posts elsewhere at U Village, and I remembered how
easy it was to get caught up in the trim and individual blossoms in the hanging
baskets. I still had my twig and ink out, so I let ‘em rip. Sufficiently
loosened up by the trees in the previous sketch, I was happy with the way the blunt
twig stressed the shadows without letting me fuss with details.